NIA Chargesheets 10 in Odisha Minor Trafficking Case

New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has filed a chargesheet against 10 accused in a Bhubaneswar court in connection with the trafficking of a minor Bangladeshi girl into Odisha, officials said on Tuesday. The chargesheet, submitted before a Special Court, states that the accused lured the victim with false promises of employment and later pushed her into immoral trafficking for financial gain.

According to the NIA, the accused exploited the girl’s vulnerable background and her family’s poor financial condition to facilitate the cross-border trafficking. The investigation also uncovered a wider human trafficking network operating across the eastern border.

The case was originally probed by the Odisha Police, which had filed two chargesheets against six accused in the POCSO court. After the NIA took over the investigation, multiple searches were conducted in West Bengal, leading to the arrest of two more accused. Examination of the suspects’ social media accounts and their financial records further helped the agency identify and arrest two additional associates.

The agency has now chargesheeted all 10 accused under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) 2023, the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012, and the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956.

In a separate case, the NIA filed a chargesheet last week before the NIA Special Court in Jaipur against the alleged mastermind of an interstate arms and narcotics trafficking network with links to Pakistan-based handlers. The accused, Vishal Pachar, has been charged under provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, the Arms Act, the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, and the BNS.

The investigation in case RC-01/2025/NIA/JPR revealed that Pakistan-based collaborators supplied arms, ammunition, and heroin through high-powered drone drops along border areas. Gang members in India would retrieve the consignments and distribute them across Rajasthan, Haryana, and Punjab. The group also procured illegal foreign-made weapons to strengthen their operations and evade law enforcement.

The NIA said both cases highlight its continued efforts to dismantle trafficking and smuggling networks operating across India and beyond.